Falling (and I never knew)
by SeveningTree
Summary: Tag to 6x15 and after. She has gone away, but he finds her, again and again. She tries to run, but he eventually catches her, because she needs to know exactly how he feels about her, and he won't give up until she hears it all.


_A/N: My inspiration hit the moment I finished watching 6x15. I knew this angst and slow burn was coming – the writers will not make it easy for us, even after the amazing, incredibly perfect first kiss between Stefan and Caroline (for which I am actually very grateful that it was executed and planned so well). So you know, I had to write this. Hope you guys enjoy. This ship has sailed, I just can't wait for the moment that it officially takes off – the moment Stefan finally admits his feelings to Caroline._

_This isn't very long, so I hope you'll enjoy._

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**Falling (and I never knew)**

**….**

(but now I do, and now I know, what life could be, with you)

**..**

He finds her. Of course it would be him – he knows her better than anyone else. He is her best friend. And he would not stop trying to find her, again and again.

He has been chasing her. He'd find her, eyes bloodshot red, drops of crimson falling from the sides of her equally coloured lips after devouring the neck of her latest victim. She would then regain control, her face looking _almost _normal again, but then she'd feign a smirk, then speed off after an expressionless exhale of air.

It was as though seeing _him _made her remember who she was before she turned off her humanity switch. It was as though just _one look _at him and she would tumble back into her usual routine, her usual laugh, her usual smile, her usual _Caroline Forbes self._

And she couldn't. She wouldn't allow herself to do it yet, because the pain. She couldn't stand the pain. It wasn't enough, it still hurt, she still needed release.

She needed to feel as though she was free from the pain.

But she didn't quite feel it as much as she had hoped she would, even after making out with random strangers outside bars and sucking the life out of them after.

She had the power to stop herself from killing an entire small township when she really could, but that was only because she found herself constantly switching between being cynical about her current situation and having fun compelling people to do ridiculous things or simply toying around with them and disposing of them after.

She wasn't _exactly_ the ripper kind, but she was emotionless, and that made her the opposite from the insecure, neurotic control freak she thought herself to be.

Regardless, Stefan Salvatore would find her time and time again, and every time he did, she would run away, and before he would have the chance to say anything, she would be gone, and he would trace her again.

It was mere nanoseconds of encounters. But it was enough for Caroline to return back from the edge, even by just a tiny bit. And that tiny bit was building up with each time he found her.

She is circling now, and she is preying on her latest target, preparing to sneak up as the flirtatious blondie just at the right time, but before she can, a hand catches her wrist, and she turns the instant she senses someone behind her.

But he latches her hand onto her arm, and it is too late for her to run.

_Finally._

She looks up into his eyes, and she knows she shouldn't have. The switch inside her is still turned off, but something flickers in her eyes, and he knows there is hope.

_She has more control, after all._

"Caroline, don't. Please don't go. _Please._" He begs her, and the reflection in his grey irises are borne of burden, something he has carried from the day of her mother's funeral, the day he should have been in time to tell her how much he loved her, but he was too late.

But he isn't going to leave it as that. He is going to fight to get her back, he is going to make it all up to her, and he is going to make sure that _she knows exactly how he feels for her _if it is the last thing he does.

He isn't going to let it go. He isn't going to let _her go. _Not anymore. Not ever.

He knows now. He is surer, surer than ever.

He didn't know what love was really like. He had always been treated by a twisted, wronged, and even fake sort of love that he didn't know what it would feel like to so naturally, unknowingly _fall in love._ He really just didn't. He had never experienced it.

So when he finally realised that he had fallen in love with his best friend Caroline Forbes, something inside him clicked and came alive, like a fire that could not stop burning. It ignited a part of him that he did not know existed, and it made him so confident that _this love, this thing _he had with Caroline was the best thing he had ever discovered, the best thing he had ever _felt _and _encountered_.

_I think this could turn into something even better._ He had said this to Damon the night of the funeral. Now, he is sure. It would be something better, because it already is. It already _was_, the moment he became natural friends with her, when she constantly pursued him when he went away to mourn his grief, when she constantly proved how much she genuinely cared for him in more ways than he could count.

It was and is already better, because she is different. She is unique, special, beautiful, _extraordinary. _

Her face is an empty shell, and she simply stares at him, but then she sighs. "What do you want, Stefan? You caught me. Yay, hooray."

"I just want you to know something," he says, face determined but gentle and incredibly loving.

She decides to indulge him for a quick moment, thinking that it wouldn't hurt to let him just say what he has to say so that she can get rid of him after. Her turned-off emotions are unfortunately more powerful than anything else simmering beneath the surface of her façade, but he knows that she is not lost, and that is enough for him to drive his point forward and win her back.

"Fine. What?" she asks airily and raises her eyebrows, looking away.

But he reaches out with both hands and caresses both sides of her red-stained cheeks, forcing her to look right at him. In that moment, he believes and he knows. She will come back to him.

"I know this may not be the perfect moment for me to say it, but Caroline, _I love you_. I want to _be with you. _I have – a _thing _for you but it's not just _a thing_. It's feelings that I never thought I'd have. It's a love I have never understood. _You _have brought into my life this _love _that is incomparable, pure, unparalleled. _I _**love**_** you. **_And nothing, _nothing _will change that," he breathes, each word like a refreshing drop of rain in a barren desert.

"But more than anything, Caroline, I _want us. I want you and me, _**together**. I want whatever we have that's between us. Because it's extraordinary. _You're extraordinary_."

She is silent the whole time, and after a minute, he clasps both her hands together in his, and he decides to leave, to let her be until she is ready to return home. He has said all he needs to say, and he has tried. He still believes, but he thinks maybe it will take some time.

He starts walking away, unaware that in Caroline's mind, memories of him are returning to her, hitting her like bricks, her wall of iron vanishing, her clouded vision sharpening and coming into focus. Everything she had put aside about him and her _life _comes rushing back, immersing her in an ocean of immeasurable feelings – love, pain, happiness, anger, disappointment, hopefulness, joy, loneliness, _acceptance._

She blinks at least five times, her eyes widening in sheer shock, and she falls to the ground onto her knees.

"Stefan," she whispers, a tear falling from her eye.

He whirls around when he hears her collapse, and he is in front of her before she can process anything other than _him, he is all around her, and he is there, and he is Stefan Salvatore, the man she loves and needs more than anyone or anything._

"Caroline! Caroline," he envelopes her in a hug, and his eyes are slightly tearing, and he breathes her in, sighing into her golden curls. "You're okay. You're back."

"_Stefan_," she cries, sobbing ever so lightly, trying to conceal the tears of relief and shame flooding her system. "I'm _sorry_."

"No, _don't be sorry_," he repeats. "No. _I _am sorry, Caroline. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I'm _so sorry—_"

She lets out a little laugh in between her tears, and the first smile returns to her face, and he stops mid-sentence, laughing with her, their foreheads joined, their noses touching.

She looks at him, a little smile shining amid her sniffles, realising that she is happy beyond belief that it is _him _who is able to bring her back from the edge, that it is _his love _for her that brings her back to who _she is_.

And there are no more words that need to be said, because he leans forward and kisses her, _finally_, again, except that this time it is different, because this time, _he is sure, and she is sure. _

(Really, she had always been sure, she just had to wait for him to catch up to her, which he finally did.)

He kisses her like there is no tomorrow, even though there is, because they will have many, many, _many _more tomorrows.

Together.

**..**

_**end.**_

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_Please review and drop me your thoughts on this, I always love to hear feedback. Much love!_


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